alice’s posterous

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July 1, 2009

Mongolia, a fascinating country.

Last week, I saw beautiful pictures from inner Mongolia on the Relaxing Hub.


Mongolia is a country that has always fascinated me: its steppes, the famous Gobi desert, its people, the traditional Mongolian dwelling known as a yurt, horse-racing over long stretches of open country...

I am lucky to follow Dave's posterous who lives in Mongolia and will sometimes post some videos from there!
I wish one day I could visit this amazing country!

What about you? Do you have a country that has always fascinated you and you wish you could visit someday?

     
Click here to download:
Mongolia_a_fascinating_country.zip (76 KB)

Filed under  //   country   fascinating   international   Mongolia   people   travel   visit   world  

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June 29, 2009

The social power of Twitter

Last week, I was outraged when I read some comments on a TES forum about Twitter. Obviously, they were comments made by people who have no idea of what Twitter is about but still they have the need to criticize it.

When my brother (@chewie33 on Twitter) told me about Twitter last summer, I thought "what's the point in writing what you're having for breakfast?!". I didn't know much about social networking. I had just registered on Facebook and I quite liked it because I was getting in touch with old friends I had lost contact with. But that was all and I thought Twitter was completely pointless. Nevertheless, I carried on and started sharing more useful information in relation with my job and other areas of interest to me. I also started blogging on Posterous and then I started to meet new interesting people.

For me Twitter is as @langwitches describes it in her fantastic post about a traditional Argentinean Asado (BBQ) and Social Networking in the 21st century. It is like having a conversation with lots of different people at a party. Yesterday, I was having a leaving do at my house with a big barbecue and my friends and family and it was like being on Twitter and having different conversations about different topics. At times, I would be quiet and listening, at other times, I would be participating, I would leave a conversation and follow another one. Sometimes, the conversation would be pointless (i.e. about what we're having for breakfast! because we are humans), sometimes it would be meaningful.

Thanks to Twitter, I have met a bunch of great people from all over the world and I have learnt so much from them. My teaching job has become so much fun and exciting because I am always keen to try out the new things I learn on Twitter. So please, stop criticizing and start giving Twitter a go!

And you? what do you compare Twitter with?

Filed under  //   conversation   facebook   fun   interesting   meaningful   people   social   social networking   talking   teaching   twitter  

Comments [8]

June 24, 2009

Describing what's going on in a flat.

I found this brilliant video on Ideas to Inspire



This short animation could be used when teaching household tasks and furniture in another language. After watching it, students would have to discuss the following in the target language:

  • the people: who are they? describe them, what are they doing?
  • the rooms: name them, describe the different objects in the rooms
  • opinions: what do you think about the people? are they helpful? kind? unkind?
I don't think I would show the entire clip as 10 minutes is too long but the first half is enough to get some talking going on.

The next part could lead to a drama project where students add dialogues to the scenes and act them (maybe?).

What does this animation inspire you to do with your students?

Filed under  //   animation   engage   everyday life   flat   household tasks   ideas   inspire   languages   learning   people   project   short film   students   teaching   video   youtube  

Comments [17]